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| Greater Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachydactyla dukhunensis
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| Photographer : | © Prasad Ganpule |
| Location : | near Lodai, Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India |
| Date : |
15 February 2019 |
| English synonyms: | European Short-toed Lark, Short-toed Lark, Redcapped Lark, Red-capped Lark, Rufous Short-toed Lark (cinerea), Sykes's Short-toed Lark (dukhunensis), Syke's Short-toed Lark (dukhunensis), Mongolian Short-toed Lark (dukhunensis), Eastern Short-toed Lark (dukhunensis) |
| Bird Family : | Alaudidae - Larks |
| Bird Group : | PASSERIFORMES |
| Red Data Status : | Least Concern |
| Remarks : | The rather rufous crown with the darker (blackish) stripe above the supercilium (towards the forehead) is very unusual, and recalls Rufous-capped Lark C. eremica, but the supercilium is quite rufous. It lacks the prominent white supercilium seen in Rufous-capped Lark. I took the opinion of Lars Svensson, Hadoram Shirihai and Per Alström, who thought this was best treated as a Sykes's Short-toed Lark Calandrella (brachydactyla) dukhunensis and that call would have been the best way to separate it from Rufous-capped Lark. Unfortunately, I did not record the call and hence considering the ID as a Sykes's Short-toed Lark. I did not find such a plumaged bird in an extensive search on the net. - PG
Editor's Note: On OBI Sykes's Short-toed Lark is treated as the dukhunensis subspecies of Greater Short-toed Lark, although regarded as a separate species by some authors. |
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